So glad you found us and that you’ve been reading some of our post. I just want to welcome you and send encouragement. Many people have success on this forum and you CAN have it to. Open your mind and heart to what is being said and get rid of that dieting, forbidding foods and exercising. It’s a lose lose situation.

Hi cant-do-this-on-my-own! Welcome to the forum… like you, I have started struggling with bulimia and anorexia and transitioned into binge eating. I know how you feel!

I know that when there is pressure, like wanting someone to like you or having a party to go to and wanting to look good, the easiest thing to think is that dieting is the answer, but like eemslo said, try to let go of thinking about dieting and obsessing about losing weight. Listen to your body and little by little start making healthier choices when eating but don’t go extreme. Your body will appreciate it and the urges to binge will decrease. By eating healthier without restricting the foods that you like completely, you will start losing weight healthily without losing control and spiraling into binges. Implement a little bit of exercise into your days, it will aid your weight loss, relieve some of the stress of what you are going through and keep you busy at times that you would normally binge.

I must say that you, like all of us here, has to work on loving yourself. Please don’t be so hard on yourself, we are humans and we are vulnerable; this is just something you are going through that will make you stronger – please know that many people are able to overcome this and YOU WILL TOO.

Now… you must know that you are beautiful and unique – we were all created different and that is something we need to embrace. Not everything is about looks and remember that we see ourselves the way we think about ourselves. I know how hard it is – trust me, I struggle with it every day. It may sound silly, but this is something I do and it feels like it helps…. Stand in front of the mirror and look at yourself in the eye -then say this out loud: “I love you and you are wonderful. I accept you just as you are” — say it as many times as you can, if possible every time you see a mirror.

Whenever there is an urge to binge coming on, try to talk to your mind and say “I am in control of my life, and I choose to move past this”. Say it 50 times in a row if you need to, little by little this will help you take control and you will be able to overcome these urges. It is a process and it will take time, don’t be so hard on yourself when you fail and pat yourself in the back every time you succeed.

This support group is an amazing tool in the process, use it as many times as needed! We are all here to help each other out.

I use to suffer from binge eating, and I know how terrible, awful, and alone it can make you feel. My binge eating disorder was at its peak when I was in college. It wasn’t until the beginning of my senior year of college when I said to myself, I need to stop this, its ruining my life, and someday I’m going to look back and be sad I missed out on so many opportunities because I felt shitty about myself and let food control my life.

I joined the website caloriecount.about.com that let’s you track all of your calories, tells you how many calories your body burns at rest, and you can see how many calories you should be consuming per day to get to the weight you want to be. Joining this website just kind of changed my entire thinking about food. When I was in my bingeing days, I was an all-or-nothing person. Everyday I woke up trying to have a good day, and if I ruined it somehow, I figured the day was shot and I would allow myself to binge till no end. Then ofcourse I woke up feeling shitty and tried again. It was a horrible cycle. Anyways, this website kind of taught me that if I am going to eat a 700 calories quesadilla for lunch…. its okay… as long as I have a salad for dinner and keep my entire day calorie goal within range. This website also shows you the nutrients you are getting by the foods you eat. It made me much more conscious of what I was putting into my body and made me want to eat healthy, well balanced meals. When I was at the peak of my bingeing I remember telling my mom (who never really understood how serious this disease was) that I felt like I could never eat a sandwich for lunch like a normal person. (I think on my good days to counter balance my bad days I would eat try to eat too too healthy and end up ruining it all together)

ANYWAYS… what I am trying to say is there is HOPE and you can definitely get to the point where you have a NORMAL relationship with food. I found that website extremely helpful. I was really into it and did it every day for about 6 months. Within the first 3 days I remember just feeling completely different. Despite still not being at the weight I’d prefer to be, I felt like a normal eater, I wanted to be with my friends and socialize and not let food run my life. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!!

I have ribbish boy confidence and feel a bit rough when i look in the mirror a lot of the time!! Thing is I do think that the more we take care of ourselves and the less we binge, the better we feel. I often find that the scales might not change but I feel better about my body when i don’t binge.

Hi cant-do-this-on-my-own! I too am 17 and struggling with binge eating. I am so self-conscious of what I eat and I track EVERYTHING, so when I eat something that negatively affects my day, I lose control for the rest of the day because I think “hey I already messed up, what is one more thing” but this is bad because it doesn’t just stop at one thing. I also tend to binge at night after 8 because that is when I am most alone, most stressed, and most tired. Today is also my first day because although I joined yesterday, I ate terribly and binged a ton, so today is the first day of my “new life” (hopefully). One thing I have tried today, which was given as advice to me on another thread, was to eat something I wanted at lunch that way I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself, so with my soup at lunch I also had a roll. Maybe we can do this together? For instance send messages back and forth to eachother when we suddenly get an urge to binge. I also made this forum one of my homepages, so that I have to confront it every time I open a new window. I am hoping this will lessen my urge to binge because I can’t avoid it. Whatever you did today to make it “unsuccessful,” forget about it and just start new for the rest of the day.

you don’t have to write a diary entry every day, just do whatever you think will help you most. try to remove all stress surrounding food, and that includes any “rule” you have about posting here each morning (or whenever). what’s your current strategy for stopping your binge eating, do you have one? xxx